New Look CNCNZ.com - Command & Conquer 365

[Sonic 296]

If you haven't checked out the main site lately you might want to right now. The new look CNCNZ.com has been launched. I briefly mentioned late last year that a new layout was coming. It was scheduled for early February but it got pushed back further. Its here now and that's what counts. Its basically the same colours as before, because everyone likes the traditional blue style. The only thing that has changed is the link colour. A heavy focus has been put on improved navigation around different areas. You will notice the new top navigation menu. A few of these are drop down menus, while others just link directly to the main sections like the Gallery and Downloads. The right side navigation bar changes depending on what section of the site your browsing. Take a look at the new Red Alert 3: Uprising section and you will see you can access all the Uprising info and easily switch to different sections.

 

You will also notice that the main site no longer fills the screen. The old design didn't look to good on widescreen displays. The new design is fixed width. Visitors on widescreen displays will see a nice soft blue gradient background. If your desktop resolution is less than 1280 x 1024 the layout will not fit your screen.

 

What is Command & Conquer 365? Believe it or not this was going to be the new name for CNCNZ.com, I had plans to change the site to C&C 365 but that's all changed. It has now been adopted as kind of theme. CNCNZ.com brings you the latest C&C news 365 days a year, hence the name Command & Conquer 365.

 

Anyway, that's just a short introduction to the new look CNCNZ.com. I'll still be tweaking things and adding additional stuff. If you spot any problems please let me know by posting a comment here.

[Johnnyxp64 20]

Amazing Look Sonic!

 

i like it seems simplier and is loading very fast! Welldone! (the menu fonts could be a bit smaller thought just a bit)

 

but i have found issues (the same as cnc.com) with your menus in Opera brawser at least

can you do something for that i tried compatibility modes in my brawser but nothing worked

 

here is a screenshot i hope it helps to understand the issue better

Edited March 16, 2009 by Johnnyxp64

[Sonic 296]

Regarding the Opera menu compatibly. Yeah its not 100% perfect in Opera. Something for me to work on. The menu works but there some noticable layout problems. Also in Firefox and Opera the long menu for the Games list sometimes appears behind the slideshow box (main index only).

[Johnnyxp64 20]

Regarding the Opera menu compatibly. Yeah its not 100% perfect in Opera. Something for me to work on. The menu works but there some noticable layout problems. Also in Firefox and Opera the long menu for the Games list sometimes appears behind the slideshow box (main index only).

 

glad you will try to perfect that. thanks.

 

oh btw the Red Alert 3 game was realeased in 2008 not 2009 just a small fix there ;-)

 

once again i love the new interface would you do any updates to the forums too? i like how it works but you could update the Header graphics to something more "fancy" i guess to match the new frontpage look.

 

keep up the good work man.

Edited March 16, 2009 by Johnnyxp64

[Sonic 296]

would you do any updates to the forums too? i like how it works but you could update the Header graphics to something more "fancy" i guess to match the new frontpage look.

The header at the top will be updated. But no other major changes are planned for the forums. IP.Board forum are a pain the ass to skin.

 

[mirza044 4]

nice work

[TheBlackOut 7]

I like the new layout but the new name thing makes me wonder. Is it the site still going to referred to as CNCNZ.com with the "Command & Conquer 365" theme or what?

[Koen 2]

I like the new look, some remarks:

- the header is a bit "dotty". I like blending better, dots distract me.

- the menu behind the header in Opera only happens sometimes, there are also times (when the page has just loaded) when it works.

- the video channel box: why not put just "video channel" at the top, instead of also including the title of the video? The title of the video should be above the video (although the YouTube player also embeds it). Is it possible to hide the bar at the bottom of the video player? Not sure if this is a YouTube option, but having it appear only when the video is playing/active would be nice.

[sith_wampa 6]

I prefer the other layout but that might just be me.

 

And I guess leap day is holiday now.

[rEdaSbLood 1]

change is good, keeps things fresh.

[ghost_zero 0]

Well: At first I was a bit surprised

The main problem is that I have to find out where everything is now but generally the new layout seems fine.

However, I encountered one small bug already. Actually, I don't know exactly what's causing it but it can happen - at least in Firefox v3.0.7.

I guess it is related to switching sites.

However, the bug I mean is that it can happen that the pop-up-menus are displayed behind the images instead of it being above the images which makes the sub-menu points inaccessible. Refreshing the site seems to fix it temporarily though but...

[Luk3us 63]

I like it, very clear cut.

 

Only thing I dislike is that epically annoying ad right at the top. Couldn't move it down slightly? Like perhaps above the main content area.

 

But aside from that looks very good.

[Sonic 296]

I like the new layout but the new name thing makes me wonder. Is it the site still going to referred to as CNCNZ.com with the "Command & Conquer 365" theme or what?

It is and always will be just CNCNZ.com. The "Command & Conquer 365" thing is just a sub title. Some extra decoration.

 

I like the new look, some remarks:

- the header is a bit "dotty". I like blending better, dots distract me.

- the menu behind the header in Opera only happens sometimes, there are also times (when the page has just loaded) when it works.

- the video channel box: why not put just "video channel" at the top, instead of also including the title of the video? The title of the video should be above the video (although the YouTube player also embeds it). Is it possible to hide the bar at the bottom of the video player? Not sure if this is a YouTube option, but having it appear only when the video is playing/active would be nice.

The "dotty" pattern, called a dither, was chosen because I wanted some extra colours of the artwork in the header images to show through more. Some look better than others though.

 

I can't modify the contents of the YouTube embedded player only its size.

 

the bug I mean is that it can happen that the pop-up-menus are displayed behind the images instead of it being above the images which makes the sub-menu points inaccessible. Refreshing the site seems to fix it temporarily though but...

I'm fully aware of this. And I have a solution.

[TheBlackOut 7]

It is and always will be just CNCNZ.com. The "Command & Conquer 365" thing is just a sub title. Some extra decoration.

Good to know!

[Gben 20]

It's not working for me so far, everything seems too magnified, too big and cartoony. But that's just a first impression, I'll reserve judgement for a while.

Besides I hang out in the forums more than viewing the website nowadays.

[Dr. Rodney McKay 0]

Looks decent, if a bit cluttered.

[Sonic 296]

Cluttered? Really? That's how I always felt about the previous design that was over done in some areas. This new one feels the total opposite to me. I achieved everything I set out to do by changing the layout but I retained all the same features offered by the old one.

[Dr. Rodney McKay 0]

It's mostly the amount of news stories and the latest files section that give me the impression that it is cluttered. Have you considered a collapsible news section?

 

Good job on the Game tracker, though. Very useful.

Edited March 17, 2009 by Dr. Rodney McKay

[BioBen 3]

Hmmm it's too fat?

Too big:

Random space:

[Malevolence 6]

This site has been "Pentium 3" approved.

 

Love the refreshing layout. It's cleaner, and better!

[Sonic 296]

Hmmm it's too fat?

Too big:

Like I said in the original post. If your on a resolution of anything below 1280 x 1024 it won't fit to well. The main layout body is 1200px wide. If you can bump your screen resolution to 1280 x 1024 it will be much better.

[Mighty BOB! 5]

Did the forum gold text color change? It's more orange than gold now.

[Sonic 296]

Yeah its been darkened. Its more of a bronze I think.

 

I've also updated the forum header image at the top, not sure if I'm happy with it just yet. Refresh to see the changes.

[Malevolence 6]

The "CNCNZ.com forums" on the top banner of this forum... I dunno, to me something isn't very right. Have you thought about tweaking the blending options of the text, perhaps thicker strokes and usage of outer glow (CNCNZ's golden theme as the glow)?

[Sonic 296]

Yeah like I said I'm not happy with it to be honest so expect it to change at some point.

 

UPDATE: Changed it again. Darker than before. Refresh the page to see the changes.